


Glasses

by orphan_account



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-26
Updated: 2014-08-26
Packaged: 2018-02-14 22:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2205486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a Tumblr prompt from Nausicaa82: How about Phil and Steve are reading a book together and each night they take turns reading chapters. Extra points if Phil wears glasses because he's taken out his contacts, and Steve loves them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Glasses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nausicaa82](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nausicaa82/gifts).



Perhaps unsurprisingly, Phil is only more quiet and still when he has a nightmare.  
Steve understands. Sharing a bed with Bucky had trained him out of any habit of moving or thrashing while asleep, for fear of denting Bucky’s face with his bony elbows. He can’t help but wonder why Phil was the same, whether it had been military accommodations, or whether it had always been his way, even growing up.  
Wondering didn’t stop him, however, from trying to wake Phil when he freezes next to him.   
“Phil?”  
His eyes snap open quickly, wide and glazed.   
“It’s okay, Phil,” Steve rubs circles slowly into his shoulder. Phil breathes deeply, eyes finally focusing on Steve’s.  
“I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”  
Steve ignores the question. “Are you alright?”  
“I’ll be fine. You should go back to sleep.”  
Steve gets up anyway. “When we were younger, and I couldn’t sleep, Bucky would always read to me.” He turns on the lamp and peruses the shelf of paperbacks by the bed. “Is there anything - wait, Tolkein wrote more books?”  
Phil seems to have grudgingly resigned himself to Steve staying awake. “The Lord of the Rings. Its a whole trilogy. It was a sequel to the Hobbit.”  
“Oh man - the Hobbit was my favorite book. I used to read it all the time.”  
Phil smiles. “I bet you’ll love these,”  
“Which one is this? The Two Towers?”  
“That’s the second one. The first one should be to the left - Fellowship of the Ring.”  
Steve grabs it, settling back in bed next to Phil.   
“There’s no way I could persuade you to go back to sleep now, is there?”  
“Not a chance.” Steve says, grinning.   
Phil huffs and leans up against his shoulder as Steve flips the book open.  
“When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton…” 

The next time they make it back to the apartment for the night, Phil comes out of the bathroom wearing a pair of thick, dark rimmed glasses. Steve stares as Phil picks up the book from the nightstand. “I thought I could continue where you left off, since you were… Steve? Are you okay?”  
Steve blinks. “Those are new.”  
Phil looks confused, and then pokes at the rim of his glasses. “These? I’ve had these for a while. Just don’t wear them much. Hazard in the field, and all. Contacts are easier.”  
“They look good on you,”   
Phil coughs. “My glasses got broken a lot when I was a kid, so I was pretty eager to get contacts when I could.”  
Steve looks up. “Your glasses got broken?”  
“Well, it’s all your fault really.” Phil says. “I watched far too many Captain America cartoons, got into some fights with my school bully I probably shouldn’t have.”  
“Think you would have done the same thing without the cartoons.”  
“Maybe. But I wouldn’t have had such a good theme song going in my head while I was getting my ass handed to me.”  
Steve smiles, and leans over to kiss Phil. “Knew there was a reason I loved you.”  
“Because I look good in glasses?”  
“Well, maybe more than one reason.”  
Phil opens the book as Steve curls up next to him.   
“The talk did not die down in nine or even ninety-nine days...”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I just need to include this little bit of headcanon about the bookshelf of paperbacks   
> because you know that Phil would have a nice collection of hardbacks of books he loves  
> really old, beautiful editions  
> but he’s got this bookshelf of paperbacks  
> old fantasy and sci fi he picked up when he was younger  
> but also a bunch of eclectic lawyer and mystery novels picked up in airport bookstores   
> and he tosses one into his bag whenever he’s heading out on an op  
> and when he starts working with Clint   
> Clint’s always hassling him over the com lines on boring stakeouts   
> and finally Phil’s just like … if I read to you will you be quiet?  
> And so Phil will be reading Clint from whatever book he’s on over the com   
> and this of course gets around at headquarters  
> everyone thinks its hilarious  
> and when Natasha joins them she thinks its the most ridiculous thing she’s ever heard of  
> reading to an operative?  
> but she’s on the shared com line and so she can’t get away from it  
> but she always acts like she isn’t paying any attention  
> until one day  
> at a particularly shocking plot twist  
> Phil and Clint both hear this burst of Russian profanity over the coms  
> and Nat realizes she’s definitely stuck with these two crazy people


End file.
